In recent years, accompanying with the progress in living standard, dietary habits have altered to Western-style in many countries including Japan. Therefore, we tend to intake excess calories and lipids compared with a traditional dietary habit. As a result, patients and potential patients of lifestyle-related diseases such as hyperlipemia, cholesteremia, diabetes, hypertension, adiposis, etc. have increased. Among those, adiposis, which is caused by the excess increase of lipids in the living body, is a risk factor of those lifestyle-related diseases and is recognized as a large problem on human health. Furthermore, adiposis is a risk factor of hyperlipemia, cholesteremia, cardiovascular disease, hepatic disease, malignant tumor, diabetes, etc. and is suggested to involve the crisis and the aggravation of gout, cholecystolithiasis, etc.
Particularly, in Japanese society which is on the way of an aging society, the prevention of adiposis is highlighted as an important object from a viewpoint of preventive medicine because adiposis is a risk factor of lifestyle-related diseases. Also, women in and/or after adolescence tend to hate the corpulence. Some of them get out of order of hormone valance and cause critical diseases such as osteoporosis by the diet with wrong methods, causing excess burden on the body.
Usually, a method for limiting calories by ingesting low-fat or low-calorie foods and that for burning off calories by aerobic exercises are recommended as a means of curing or preventing adiposis and hyperlipemia. However, many people are forced to abandon such methods because they require pointed leadings and a long period. Also, the dietary restriction is not preferable from the viewpoint of mental health. Although taking drugs is effective for curing or preventing adiposis and hyperlipemia, the side-effect and cost of the drugs cause problems.
It is particularly desirable for patients and potential patients of diseases such as adiposis, hyperlipemia, cholesteremia, etc., to prevent such diseases effectively with taking delicious and safe foods, snacks, and healthy foods in a daily eating habit. Under these circumstances, the development of effective materials for curing or preventing adiposis, hyperlipemia, cholesteremia, diabetes, etc., which show delicious taste intact or in combination of other foods, is now in progress. Recently, accompanying with the recent health fad or the establishment of health-promoting foods such as foods specified health use, general public rise awareness for curing and preventing adiposis, hyperlipemia, cholesteremia, diabetes, etc., by ingesting foods and beverages. Under these circumstances, many food materials such as fats including diacylglycerols and plant sterols, which inhibit uptake of fats and cholesterols; and low-calorie sweeteners including synthetic highly-sweetened sweeteners and sugar alcohols are already commercialized. For example, lipid-reducing agents, comprising saccharides such as xyloglucan, agarooligosaccharide, etc., as effective ingredients, are disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. 147,934/95, 224,608/97, and 349,485/99. Further, a lipid-metabolism-improving agent, comprising substances such as hesperetin, naringenin, etc., as effective ingredients, are disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai No. 280,358/96. Furthermore, in “SHOKUMOTSU-SENI KISO-TO-OYO (Dietary fiber, its basis and application)” published by ASAKURA-SHOTEN in 1997, it is disclosed that dietary-fifers represented by cellulose or gummy substances involve in the metabolism of lipids, bile acids, and cholesterols and have an activity of improving lifestyle-related diseases. However, in the case of using those ingredients for materials of foods and beverages, some of those ingredients are food materials having disadvantages of deteriorating the taste, flavor, and mouthfeel; being not effective without taking in a relatively large amount; or causing diarrhea depending on the physical condition or the predisposition. To meet the recent diversified eating habit, it is desirable to develop food materials having a safety and activity of preventing or treating diseases such as adiposis, hyperlipemia, cholesteremia, diabetes, etc., without causing the deterioration of taste, flavor, and mouthfeel even when one takes it habitually.
While, the applicant of the present invention disclosed a novel process for producing CTS and/or a saccharide composition comprising CTS and its saccharide-derivative(s), and a composition comprising those saccharides in International Publication Nos. WO 01/090,338, WO 02/010,361, and WO 02/072,594. Also, the applicant of the present invention disclosed in those specifications that those saccharides are hardly metabolized by intestinal bacteria and have a dietary fiber-like activity. However, in all those literatures, there is no disclosure about the lipid-regulating activity of CTS and/or its saccharide-derivative(s) or a composition comprising those saccharides.